


let it grow

by praising_the_foxes



Series: forgetmenot [1]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-07
Updated: 2019-12-07
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:27:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21708976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/praising_the_foxes/pseuds/praising_the_foxes
Summary: andrew learns how to plant roots, literally and figuratively. also known as andrew learns that sometimes home is neil, two cats, and a planting obsession
Relationships: Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Series: forgetmenot [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1564729
Comments: 2
Kudos: 57





	let it grow

The day Andrew Minyard and Neil Josten settle in together is the day Andrew sets down roots, and Neil follows along.

Andrew can hear Bee and her smug tone saying  _ progress _ . (Andrew knows she wouldn’t actually say it like she was bragging, but he’d like to imagine she would so he could have some fake reason to dislike her.)

But imaginary Bee is right; walking into his and Neil’s apartment is like coming home. Seeing Neil in the kitchen, shoving groceries wherever they fit, is like breathing for the first time in a long time.

He remembers the first time they had ever made a big step in their relationship, when Andrew had told Neil he loved him.

And shockingly, it was  _ Andrew  _ who hadn’t taken it well. He took one look at Neil’s face and he walked away and towards the Maserati. He ended up driving towards some abandoned parking lot near the house in Columbia and he had called Bee; nevermind that it was nearly four in the morning, she had answered and talked some sense back into him.

Yes, he wasn’t ready for it but he had meant it. And when he and Neil had sat on his bed and quietly discussed it all until Kevin’s alarm interrupted them, he felt something settle inside him.

But settling down,  _ moving in  _ with Neil and staying with him, felt different. Signing that contract and searching for furniture together meant  _ home _ . It meant something almost like forever.

Now Andrew knew that wasn’t bad, especially if it was with Neil, but it was still something new and scary, so Andrew felt justified at his discomfort. Not to mention the last time he had ever been close to home, to  _ forever _ , was Cass.

And look at how that had ended.

Setting down his roots with the Spear’s was like planting down in radioactive soil and the sun had burnt out.

But now here he was, setting down his roots for real this time with Neil, Neil who looked so peaceful, with his stupid, perfect face and stupid, perfect hair in the sunlight streaming in from the windows.

He was ethereal.

🌺🌺🌺

Maybe all the plant metaphors going through his head last week was a premonition.

Sitting on the kitchen counter was a package from Bee.

Andrew hadn’t thought much about it; Bee had a tendency to send him packages whenever something important happened. When he and Neil had gotten married, she had sent them a buffet ticket to a high end restaurant in Paris, the location of their honeymoon. When he moved out, Bee had gotten him a $200 Barnes and Nobles gift card. When they got the cats, Bee had gotten them a whole box of cat toys. So them moving in together was certainly a big enough deal for a Bee Package.

But when he did open it he was pleasantly surprised by a variety of plants.

Now Andrew has never been a planter before, but he thought that now of all times would be the best time to start.

Planting down his roots and all.

Which is how he ends up creating a garden on their spacious balcony.

As Andrew plants the last seed Bee had sent him, he hears Neil slide open the balcony door and come up towards him.

“This really is our’s, huh.”

Andrew finishes smoothing the dirt over the seed, he plops backwards onto the floor. “I thought you knew we were going to live here when we signed the contract.”

As Andrew glances up to look at Neil, he can see Neil’s mouth quirk upwards. “You know what I mean.”

Andrew looked away and stared at the sunset. “Yeah.”

They ended up watching the sunset until it was too cold to stay out.

🌺🌺🌺

The first time Neil ever cooks with something Andrew grew is after the first game of the season.

The tomatoes had been ready for a few days already, and that morning Andrew had taken some off and placed them in the kitchen, and when Andrew and Neil had come back from the game, they both showered. When Neil finished, he wandered off towards the kitchen, ready to make dinner.

“Pasta sound good?”

Andrew made a noncommittal noise which Neil took as a  _ yes _ . Andrew sat down in the living room and began reading, but he was suddenly hit with the domesticity of it all.

Him and Neil. Andrew, who was sitting down in the living room of the apartment they lived in together, reading. The cats wandering around somewhere. Neil, making dinner with something  _ Andrew grew.  _ Andrew shook off those thoughts but when Neil sat down beside him, handing him a bowl of pasta, Andrew smiled.

This is home.


End file.
